


Curiosity

by RicochetRomance



Series: My Grandmaster [3]
Category: Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alchemy as Medicine, Chronic Illness, M/M, Pathfinder Society, Power Imbalance, Roleplaying Character, Short, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-18 21:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12396651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RicochetRomance/pseuds/RicochetRomance
Summary: The little alchemist had been with him for nearly four months, and was always tinkering with notions of how to cure the Grandmaster. Futile efforts, but one could respect the dedication involved.---In which Orion is stubborn, and Torch appreciates that.





	Curiosity

**Author's Note:**

> Originally shared with my Pathfinder RPG group via Google Doc, cross-posting here to share it with a larger audience. 
> 
> Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10N-ZhQX6S0vhdLiC80I_CbjBXGTEkr9rfKAuG3ENj-g/edit?usp=sharing

Orion was humming. Humming a tune that sounded vaguely like a Quadiran folk song. He really should know better by now. 

"What have I told you about humming?" The menacing grumble split the air as Torch, former Society Grandmaster, lost his patience.

"Sorry," the silver-haired Undine had the decency to look sheepish, webbed hand rising to rub the back of his neck. "I'm just... in a good mood?"

"Why, exactly?" Torch asked, half-caring. It didn't take much to make Orion happy, and the novelty of a genuinely optimistic alchemist had yet to bore him. 

The Undine smiled. "My extract is finished decanting," he replied. "The one that should be able to remove curses." He looked at the Grandmaster with hope in his eyes. "It can help you? Maybe?"

Torch smirked at that, tipping his head back beneath the water of his bath - the bath to which he was perpetually confined should he not wish to suffer the agony of his curse. It was a horrific curse, that had left his flesh ruined and twisted, marred with burns that refused to heal, burns that felt fresh agony whenever he was not immersed in water.

Orion's potion would do nothing. Not even the curative spells of the most powerful clerics in Absalom had been able to lift his curse, and Orion was no cleric. It was foolishly optimistic that the Undine was even making the effort... but that foolishness was a sign of devotion, and that devotion was flattering.

Raising his head from the water, Torch nodded to the young man, who hadn't moved an inch while awaiting an answer. "What can it hurt?" Came his wry reply.

The Undine trotted to the workbench and returned with a vial of yellow liquid that seemed to be forming a thin white scum on its surface. Noting that, Orion winced and gave the vial a brisk shake before handing it over.

Torch rolled his eyes, uncorked the vial, and drank. At very least, it tasted considerably better than it looked. It was also accompanied by the faint swell of power that indicated the activation of an arcane spell.

It didn't work. Torch knew that instantly, but he raised himself halfway from the bath, for Orion's benefit. The little alchemist had been with him for nearly four months, and was always tinkering with notions of how to cure the Grandmaster. Futile efforts, but one could respect the dedication involved. 

Orion's face fell as he saw the burns redden, becoming as raw and sore as the day they were marked on Torch's tanned flesh. "Ah..." He gave a soft, sad sigh.

Torch lowered himself back into the water with a grimace. There was something deeply wrong with the fact that he was willing to expose himself to pain merely to satisfy Orion's curiosity. 

"I'm sorry." The Undine was looking at the floor, guilty and sad. "It wasn't enough."

His response was a grumbling laugh. "Not this time." Torch wasn't sure why he encouraged these experiments, but he found himself doing it every time, reassuring the young man and urging him forward.

Orion met the Grandmaster's gaze and nodded, relieved. "I'll never stop trying," he replied, voice timid but firm.

Never was a long time, but Torch knew that Orion meant it, believed a cure possible to the best of his naive understanding. “I know that,” the older man agreed.

Torch's rougher associates would often ask why he allowed such a weak, effeminate creature to associate so intimately with him. Why? Because Orion was more faithful than any hired muscle or bribed contact. He was genuinely devoted, though it was misplaced devotion, spent on a twisted man like Torch.

Orion thought the words often, and they were obvious without being voiced - The Undine loved his Grandmaster. Torch doubted that he himself still had the capacity for anything resembling love, but fond tolerance was close enough...

Or at least close enough to make Orion happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all feedback is appreciated.


End file.
